A rash of inflatable gorillas and life-size Sour Patch Kids are likely to infect Halloween parties this year, fueled by a growing number of Spirit Halloween locations seemingly creeping into every vacant retail space in the country.

The retail powerhouse synonymous with spooky season opened a record number of stores in 2026 —more than 1,550 locations — in a national retail landscape without much availability. It pulled it off because, like a kid with an indiscriminate sweet tooth, the company isn’t picky about the size and location of its pop-up shops. 

Retail space remains extremely tight nationally, with vacancy at 4.4% in the second quarter of 2026, about the same as the 4.3% figure in Q2 2025, according to Colliers data. That leaves fewer large spaces available for short-term leases. But Spirit is willing to fill a wide range of store sizes, with its preferred floor plates ranging from 5K to 50K SF. 

Colliers Senior Manager of National Retail Research Nicole Larson said that with fewer “perfect” boxes available, Spirit’s ability to operate across different store sizes gives it an advantage when competing for seasonal space. 

“They've really proven the model,” Larson said. “There's really not much holdover, very minimal risk. It's now become more of a welcome tenant, I would say, especially during this time for something that they can fill for a short period.”  

Joseph Marver founded the company in 1983 as a single pop-up store in the Castro Valley Mall in San Francisco. After modest growth in the 1980s and 1990s, Spencer Gifts acquired Spirit Halloween in 1999. Now, Spirit conducts a complex retail leasing operation that spans the entire year. 

Spirit’s “ideal lease” is a three-month term running from mid-July through mid-November with a kick-out clause if the landlord secures a permanent deal by June, according to the company’s website. It looks for locations in communities with a population of at least 35,000 within a 3- to 5-mile radius and a car count of at least 25,000 per day. Spirit likes to set up shop in power centers, strip centers, freestanding stores, major downtown retail locations and major malls.

Spirit did not respond to a request for comment. 

Anjee Solanki, national director of retail services and practice groups at Colliers, said the company starts working on its deals for the next Halloween season about a year in advance and is constantly canvassing to identify locations to set up shop. 

Spirit can get locations up and running very quickly. Solanki estimated that it can take as little as 30 days to go from raw space to ready for customers. The company also leans on long-standing relationships with landlords that have large portfolios. 

“They can pay fairly decent rent for these locations,” Solanki said. “For them, it's going through their Rolodex of past locations, checking in what's available, and then looking at new opportunities as they continue to scale.” 

Spirit’s seasonal retail play is different from other pop-up or temporary retailers. 

Some other operators with short-term plans come into markets for six months to a year to test a specific market, Solanki said. They’re looking to understand customer profiles, frequency of visits, dwell time and co-tenancy mix as they plot slow expansions, she said. Other pop-ups involve a landlord bringing in a local operator to fill some smaller spaces. 

Larson said Spirit had already set up shop in former Hudson Bay locations in Canada, a retailer that closed its doors last year after operating since 1881. The company has a good pulse on portfolio closures that happen throughout the year, and when it sees them, it jumps on those opportunities immediately, Larson said. 

Spirit’s next frontier after cornering the market for Halloween pop-ups is the crowded winter holiday space, launching a Spirit Christmas offshoot in 2024 with a pilot run of 10 stores. It expanded its footprint in 2025 with 30 locations across the Northeast and Great Lakes.  

Larson said competition around Christmas time is stiffer, with more retailers selling products. Last week, Toys R Us announced plans to temporarily quadruple its retail footprint ahead of the holiday season as it attempts a comeback to its former heights.

“I think they still have some work to do there, but I mean they've proven it for Halloween, so I don't see why they couldn't continue to do this for Christmas,” Larson said.